Articles on Hazardous Materials

Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it potentially dangerous or harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, or contained gases. They can be discrete chemical compounds, mixtures of compounds, or simply have some property that makes them hazardous. In regulatory terms, a hazardous waste is a waste that appears on one of the four RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) hazardous wastes lists (the F-list, K-list, P-list, or U-list) or that exhibits one of the four characteristics of a hazardous waste - ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity.

Stored energy is accumulated energy, which can release suddenly, potentially causing serious injury or death. Stored energy has many forms, including pressurized gases and liquids, stored mechanical energy, stored electrical energy, and gravitational potential energy. Stored energy is particularly dangerous because the hazard still exists when the original source of energy is removed. This issue of Clues will explain the various forms of hazardous stored energy, how these energies can cause damage or injuries, and how to prevent stored energy accidents.

A full size, cylindrical tank trailer pulled by a truck tractor/ cab split open on its lower section at mid-span and released hundreds of gallons of hydrochloric acid (HCl) onto a secondary highway in a northeastern state. When this occurred the truck driver jumped out of the truck's cab and sustained acid burns to his ankles because he was wearing low-quarter shoes.

In many cases, the ultimate risk to residents from environmental lead comes from multiple sources. While lead based paint is a key source, lead migrating from outdoor areas can be as toxic as the indoor paint sources. Dr Troast uses the Integrated Exposure Uptake and Biokinetic Model IEUBK Model) as a predictive tool for assessing residences.

The plaintiff was concerned that the residues of toxic metals found in coal ash were causing physical damage to the plaintiff's unborn children and to the plaintiff's ability to have normal children. The plaintiff reported prior attempts to conceive a full-term child were unsuccessful.

Most creosote mixtures that are used today are byproducts of the petroleum industry or coal gasification processes. They are mixtures of several hundreds of chemicals mostly polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) but contain a host of other chemicals including complex heterocyclic compounds